"The results are in amigo. What's left to ponder?"

Obama Wins!! or is it, Campaign Ends!!

I was studying on the undergrad campus when the official report came in declaring Barack Obama winner of the election. A girl with a heavily foreign accent shrieked with joy, "I'm so happy!" I met eyes with the two undergrads across from me and we all made the same what the? face. Following our group facial expression hug, one of the undergrads said, "cool" with a warm smile. I nodded my head and returned the smile.

I am entirely enthused that Barack Obama will be taking over as Commander in Chief, President of the USA, Leader of the Free World, as some of the more patriotic journalists like to believe. I also want to take a second to give a cheer in recognition that the campaign is over. No more campaign coverage, no more money poured down the drain to defame the opposing candidate in the most expensive way possible--I'm really thinking of the local elections here in NY, come on people, show me some creativity. Now we can recognize that Russia attacked Georgia!! We can go back to talking about the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the mounting problems with the US Mexican border, we can palpate the woes of Wall Street, plan against the inevitable peak in energy production, comprehend the inevitable bankruptcy of the health system. No more Joe the Plumber, no more Palin bloopers, etc... hurray!

Actually, that is what the media will go back to talking about. What will I return to talking about? My conversations will have less of, "yeah, McCain really threw the race when he picked Sarah Palin; so the olfactory nerve crosses the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone to enter the scull, right?" to more of "hmm, the facial nerve has a motor branch and a sensory branch (intermedius nervious), both of which leave the ventral base of pons and pass through the internal acoustic meatus, bla, bla, bla." As one can see, the short-term outcome of this election is small to very small in my world. I do, however, believe the long-term outcome is change, yes, we can believe in. Why do I say so? As the ever insightful Beck sings, "Things are gonna change, I can feel it."